Heard any good books lately? (Audiobooks - General)

Member Name: jamie56

Product:	Audiobooks - General
Date:	02/03/01 (242 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Great for a busy lifestyle, Fun to listen to, Bring stories to life

Disadvantages: Not all books are in audio format., Can be expensive

Once upon a time many years ago in a land not to far away I was given my first audio book, it was an abridged version of The Colour of Magic by Terry Pratchett read to me by Tony Robinson and I found it a joy to listen to.

I have since bought many audio books and BBC Radio/TV shows on tape. I found they fitted into my busy lifestyle very easily and I regularly enjoy listen to them on my way to and from work, on the train, to just relax at home with or to gently lull you to sleep.

I really like audio books however as with everything there are problems with audio books, mainly it is availability, not all books are put onto tape or if they are they are usually abridged versions.
When I managed to find unabridged books I discovered, as well as being much longer they can get very expensive. I own an unabridged version of Lord Of The Rings by J.R.R Tolken read by Rob Inglis it is 52 hours 36minutes long or 36 cassettes and that left me with no change out of £100. So, can be very expensive and hard to get.

Unabridged books are also much longer, the difference between an abridged version and an unabridged version of Pyramids by Terry Pratchett is:
Abridged version is 2 tapes, 3 hours long and costs £9.99.
Unabridged version is 8 tapes, 8 hours 45 minutes long and costs £24.99.
Some bookshops do stock audio books however if you want to do the work there are special companies that specialise in unabridged audio books and have a much bigger range.

In would still recommend them to anyone as the voice artists really breathe life into the story as well as solving the problem of 'how is Loi!rt (a character from The Colour Of Magic) pronounced?'.

I am a big fan of the science fiction/fantasy genre and I am glad to have got many books on tape from a company called ISIS Audio Books I found they have a good range of books from all genres on tape and/or CD. I have ordered with ISIS on quite a few occa
sions and found they were polite (I order over the phone) and helpful and the order arrived within the next week. All my orders were well packed and I am yet to find a fault in ISIS.

Well really the best place to look for companies that sell audio books is the Internet just a quick search and you will end up with a list of companies so you can take your pick of the one that you think will be best suited for you.

The BBC Also put their TV and Radio shows on tape there are much easier to find in bookshops. Up to now own the Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy radio show and the complete Blackadder TV show on tape and I am getting more as time goes by.

One thing about audio books and radio productions is that the voice artists guide your imagination on how the characters sound and even look, this could be seen as a good thing or a bad thing. If you are a big reader you will have ideas of how all the characters talk so don't be disappointed if on a audio book if you find they perform a character with a London accent or you find that the hero has a Irish accent. Everyone interprets books differently. I even have the same book twice read by two different people at its amazing to hear the differences.

Radio productions are also like this as they use many different voice artists, music and sound effects which all adds to the experience.

Another advantage of a book on tape is that they are more sociable unlike a book where your head is buried in the book. So you can have a few friends round and all listen to a book.
If you are going somewhere put a book on in the car to make the trip fly by, to keep the kids quiet, as a change from the radio or instead of that tape that you have had in your glove compartment for the past three months.

So to all you people, who are too short of time to sit with a book, then grab your personal stereo and pop in a good book. Escape from the world for a few hours to fight d
ragons, solve murder mysteries, travel to far away places and just feel part of a world beyond our own, the world of audio books.

...End of cassette one, the story continues on the next cassette...

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